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Mr Horsley and his friend drove to Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest which was around 15 minutes away.

The consultant in charge at the hospital's A&E department then prepared for him to be sent to the Welsh Centre for Burns and Plastic Surgery at Morriston Hospital in Swansea.

An ambulance took Ian to Morriston Hospital "in record time" on February 23 as the roads were quiet whilst Wales' rugby team took on England at the Principality Stadium.

Preparations were made for surgery and 13 hours later Mr Horsley was on the ward with his hand re-attached, apart from his little finger.

"Throughout all of this, I never felt any pain at all, and there was next to no blood which I can't explain," he said.

"On the journey to hospital I was a little bit in despair. The guy in the back of the ambulance was absolutely marvellous. He was explaining to me how it was not the end of the world and I had to be positive.

"The plan was to take tendons from my leg and veins from my foot to repair my hand, but they did not need to in the end, it was sown back on."

Ian has thanked doctors after his hand was saved (Image: Jonathan Myers)

Mr Horsley, 61, was able to return home to his wife Linda and 14-year-old daughter Cerys six days later.

He admits it had been a long, and sometimes difficult, road to recovery, which has included many visits to the physiotherapy and occupational therapy departments at Morriston and Withybush hospitals.

"I have still some way to go," he said. "It has been six months since the accident, I have some movement and every day there are improvements.

"My hand is stiff but I do have movement in it. I've lost the small finger of my hand but it feels like a small price to pay. I've got full movement in my thumb and I can grip things.

"I'm starting to get the feeling back in my hand but there's quite a lot of pain and I'm taking drugs to combat that. I'll be having further operations to release the tendons to release movement."

Ian's hand after the operation and has hand was reattached (Image: Ian Horsley)